5 the way to the castle

‘we’re going up to the top of the hill, mother,’ said philip. ‘hunting for an eagle’s nest, to pleaseold jack. he’s seen that eagle again. we won’t go up the road, so you needn’t worry – the road tothe castle, i mean.’

‘take your tea with you,’ said his mother. ‘i shall be glad to be rid of you all for the afternoon! ican do some reading for a change!’

she and dinah cut sandwiches, and packed up cake and fruit and milk. philip took the knapsackwith the food, and whistled to button, who now answered to his name or a whistle for all theworld as if he were a dog.

button came running to him, giving little sharp barks. he was a most attractive cub and evenmrs mannering liked him, though she said he smelt a bit strong sometimes. she objected to buttonsleeping on philip’s bed, and she and philip had lengthy arguments about this.

‘your bedroom’s full of all kinds of creatures already,’ she said. ‘there’s that hedgehog alwaysin and out of your room now – and yesterday there was something jumping about all over theplace.’

dinah shuddered. she never went into philip’s room if she could help it.

‘it was only old terence the toad,’ said philip. ‘i’ve got him somewhere about me now, so hewon’t be leaping about in my bedroom. i’ll show him to you – he’s got the most beautiful eyesyou ever . . .’

‘no, philip,’ said his mother firmly. ‘i don’t want to see him. don’t disturb him.’

philip stopped ferreting about his person, and put on an injured expression. ‘nobody ever . . .’

he began, but button took his attention by trying to climb up his leg to get into his arms. ‘what’sthe matter, button? has kiki been teasing you again? has she been pulling your tail?’

the fox cub chattered to him, and finally settled down comfortably on the top of the knapsackwhich philip had slung across his back. ‘where are the others?’ said philip. ‘oh, there they are.

hi, everyone, are you ready?’

they set off up the winding roadway, narrow and steep, just wide enough to take a cart. tassiesoon appeared from somewhere, still wearing the cotton frock, though it was now torn and dirty.

she had the rubber shoes tied round her waist that day. it amused the children that she alwaysbrought them with her, although she never wore them.

‘her feet must be as hard as nails,’ said jack. ‘she never seems to mind treading on the sharpeststones!’

tassie attached herself to philip and button. kiki addressed a few amiable remarks to her, andthen flew off over the rookery to startle the rooks with her realistic cawings. they could never getover their astonishment at this performance, and listened in silence until kiki talked like a humanbeing, when they all flew away in disgust.

the children went on up the road. it was very hot that afternoon, and they panted and puffed asthey climbed. ‘why did we choose an afternoon like this to go up to the castle?’ said philip.

tassie stopped. ‘to the castle?’ she said. ‘you can’t go this way. the road up above is blocked.

you can only get round the back now.’

‘well, we want to see what there is to be seen,’ said philip. ‘i’d like to see this landslide orwhatever it is. we won’t climb about on it, because we said we wouldn’t. but i’d like to see it.’

‘i’d like to go right into the castle,’ said jack.

‘no, no!’ said tassie, her eyes widening as if she was scared. the others looked at her withinterest.

‘why not?’ asked jack. ‘it’s empty, isn’t it?’

‘no, it’s not empty,’ said tassie. ‘there are voices and cryings and the sound of feet. it is not agood place to go.’

‘you’ve been listening to gossip,’ said philip. ‘who would be there now? there’s no comingand going, there’s no one ever seen about the castle! it’s only the owls hooting there, or the batssqueaking or something.’

‘what’s the old story about the castle?’ asked dinah.

‘do you know it, tassie?’

‘it’s said that a wicked man lived there once, who got people to visit him in his castle – and theywere never heard of again,’ said tassie, speaking in a low voice as if she was afraid that thewicked man, whoever he was, might hear her. ‘they heard cries and groans, and the clashing ofswords. it is said, too, that he used to lock people up in hidden rooms, and starve them to death.’

‘what a nice old man!’ said philip, with a laugh. ‘i don’t believe a word of it. you always getthese stories about old places. i expect some half-mad old fellow came along, bought the oldcastle, patched it up, and lived there pretending to be an old-time baron or something. he musthave been mad to live in a lonely place like that.’

‘he had plenty of horses, they say, and they used this road every day,’ said tassie. ‘did younotice how here and there, in the steepest places, the road was cobbled? that was to help thehorses.’

‘yes, i did notice a cobbled bit just now,’ said philip. the others were silent for a minute.

somehow the fact that the road really was cobbled here and there made them think there might besomething in the story tassie had told them.

‘anyway, that all happened years ago, and the old man’s gone, and nobody’s there,’ said philip.

‘i’d love to explore all over the castle. wouldn’t you, jack?’

‘rather!’ said jack. and kiki agreed, swaying to and fro on his shoulder. ‘rather,’ said kiki,‘rather, rather, rather, ra . . .’

‘kiki, get off my shoulder for a bit,’ panted jack. ‘you feel jolly heavy up this hill.’

‘kiki, i’ll have you!’ said tassie, and kiki flew to her at once, informing her that she had betteropen her book at page six. tassie did not pant and puff as the others did. she was like a goat, theway she sprang up the steepest places and never seemed in the least tired.

‘hallo – we’re a good way up at last!’ said philip, wiping his hot forehead. ‘look, the road goesall strange here.’

so it did. it could no longer be called a road, for part of the hillside had fallen away and hadpiled itself on the road and all around. enormous boulders of rock lay where they had rolled, andthe stumps of trees showed where the moving hillside had cut them into pieces.

the children gazed over the untidy, rock-strewn landscape. ‘it looks as if an earthquake hadupset it,’ said lucy-ann.

beyond the landslide stood the castle, looking even more enormous now. the children couldsee how strongly built it was, and could see two of the square towers, with the long battlementedwall stretching between them.

‘i’d like to go up into one of those towers,’ said philip longingly. ‘what a marvellous viewwe’d get!’

‘the castle isn’t really right on top of the hill,’ said jack, ‘though it looks as if it is from downbelow. doesn’t it look fierce, somehow!’

it did. none of the children thought it was a very nice castle. it seemed to be such a lonely,strange, sinister place. it frowned over the hillside, and was not at all welcoming. all the same, itwas exciting.

‘tassie, how do we get to the back of it?’ asked philip, turning to the little girl. ‘we could climbover this landslide bit, i suppose, but we said we wouldn’t, and anyhow some of those boulderslook as if they would like to go rolling over and over down the hillside if anybody gave them alittle push!’

‘there’s my eagle again!’ cried jack suddenly, in excitement, and he pointed to a big bird thatrose soaring in the air, above the castle. ‘see it? it is an eagle, no doubt about it. isn’t it enormous?

i bet it’s got a nest somewhere about. oh golly, there’s another of them, look!’

sure enough there were two magnificent eagles rising in the air. they rose higher and higher,and the children watched them, fascinated.

‘how do they soar upwards like that without moving their wings?’ asked lucy-ann. ‘i couldunderstand it if they soared downwards – glide, you know – but to go up and up and up – gracious,they’re only just specks.’

‘they use air-currents i expect,’ said jack. ‘must be plenty on a hill-top. two eagles – andtogether. well, that settles it – there must be a nest!’

‘you’re not thinking of taming a young eagle, i hope?’ said dinah, in alarm.

‘don’t worry. kiki would never let jack have a tame eagle,’ said lucy-ann.

this was true, and dinah heaved a sigh of relief.

‘they rose from somewhere behind the castle as far as i could see,’ said jack eagerly. ‘let’s goround and see if we can find out where their nest is. come on.’

they left the strange, untidy landslide, and, following tassie, made their way to the east,climbing over the hillside with difficulty. tassie led them to a winding little path, narrow but safe.

‘whose path is this?’ said dinah in surprise.

‘the rabbits’ path,’ said tassie. ‘there are millions here. they make quite good little paths allover the place.’

‘i can’t go any further!’ panted lucy-ann after some while. ‘i’m tired out. let’s rest and haveour tea. the eagles’ nest won’t run away.’

everyone thought that was a good idea. they flopped down on the grass, panting. philip slunghis knapsack round to his chest and undid it. he handed out the food, and then lay flat on theground. button immediately began to lick his face all over.

it was lovely to have a drink, though there wasn’t nearly enough. no one seemed very hungry,but button and kiki managed quite a few sandwiches between them. tassie had a few too. shewas the least tired out of any of them. she sat and scratched kiki’s head, whilst the others lay flaton the hillside.

they soon recovered and sat up. philip heard the trickling of water somewhere near by andwent to investigate. he still felt terribly thirsty. he called back to the others:

‘the spring that runs past our cottage runs here. it’s lovely and cold. anyone want a drink?’

everybody did. they got up and went to the little spring that gushed out from a hole in thehillside and then ran and leapt over the pebbly bed until it once more disappeared into the earth, tocome out again further down.

the children bathed their hot feet in the cool water. then jack caught sight of his preciouseagles again. ‘come on! we’ll see where they fly down to. i wish i’d brought my camera! i couldhave photographed their nest!’